生氣遠比你想象的更傷身。你可能不知道，憤怒會導致便秘、胃痛、腹脹，增加心臟病發作的風險，甚至會損害大腦認知功能。

Anger is bad for your health in more ways than you think.
憤怒會損害你的健康，而且危害程度超出你的想象。

Getting angry doesn’t just hurt our mental health, it’s also damaging to our hearts, brains and gastrointestinal systems, according to doctors and recent research. Of course, it’s a normal emotion that everyone feels—few of us stay serene when a driver cuts us off or a boss makes us stay late. But getting mad too often or for too long can cause problems.
醫生和最近的研究都指出，憤怒不僅會影響心理健康，還會傷害心臟、大腦和腸胃系統。當然，憤怒是一種人人都會有的正常情緒，當司機強行超車或者老板讓我們加班的時候，很少有人能保持完全的平靜。但是，經常發火或者生氣的時間太長都會帶來健康問題。

There are ways to keep your anger from doing too much damage. Techniques like meditation can help, as can learning to express your anger in healthier ways.
有很多方法可以控制憤怒，避免它對你造成太大傷害。冥想之類的放松技巧可以起到幫助，學會更健康地表達憤怒情緒也很重要。

One recent study looked at anger’s effects on the heart. It found that anger can raise the risk of heart attacks because it impairs the functioning of blood vessels, according to a May study in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
最近的一項研究調查了憤怒對心臟的影響。研究發現，憤怒會增加心臟病發作的風險，因為它會損害血管的功能。該研究發表在5月份的《美國心臟病學會雜志》上。

Researchers examined the impact of three different emotions on the heart: anger, anxiety and sadness. One participant group did a task that made them angry, another did a task that made them anxious, while a third did an exercise designed to induce sadness.
研究人員檢測了三種不同情緒（憤怒、焦慮和悲傷）對心臟的影響。參與者被分成三組，分別執行會誘發憤怒、焦慮和悲傷情緒的任務。

The scientists then tested the functioning of the blood vessels in each participant, using a blood pressure cuff to squeeze and release the blood flow in the arm. Those in the angry group had worse blood flow than those in the others; their blood vessels didn’t dilate as much.
然后，科學家用血壓計通過擠壓和釋放手臂的血流來測量每位參與者的血管功能。結果顯示，憤怒組的血液流動比其他兩組更差，他們的血管擴張力更差。

"We speculate over time if you’re getting these chronic insults to your arteries because you get angry a lot, that will leave you at risk for having heart disease,” says Dr. Daichi Shimbo, a professor of medicine at Columbia University and lead author of the study.
該研究的主要作者、哥倫比亞大學醫學教授新保大地（音譯）博士推測：“如果經常生氣，導致血管長期受損，就會增加患心臟病的風險。”

Your gastrointestinal system
憤怒會擾亂你的腸胃系統

Doctors are also gaining a better understanding of how anger affects your GI system.
醫生們也逐漸了解了憤怒如何影響腸胃系統。

When someone becomes angry, the body produces numerous proteins and hormones that increase inflammation in the body. Chronic inflammation can raise your risk of many diseases.
人生氣時，身體會產生大量的蛋白質和激素，增加體內的炎癥。慢性炎癥會增加患許多疾病的風險。

The body’s sympathetic nervous system—or “fight or flight” system—is also activated, which shunts blood away from the gut to major muscles, says Stephen Lupe, director of behavioral medicine at the Cleveland Clinic’s department of gastroenterology, hepatology and nutrition. This slows down movement in the GI tract, which can lead to problems like constipation.
克利夫蘭診所胃腸病科、肝病科和營養科的行為醫學主任斯蒂芬·盧皮解釋說，憤怒會激活身體的交感神經系統，也就是“戰斗或逃跑”系統，這會導致血液從腸道流向主要肌肉。這會減緩胃腸道的運動，從而導致便秘等問題。

In addition, the space in between cells in the lining of the intestines opens up, which allows more food and waste to go in those gaps, creating more inflammation that can fuel symptoms such as stomach pain, bloating or constipation.
此外，腸道內襯細胞之間的間隙會擴大，允許更多的食物和廢物進入這些間隙，從而產生更多的炎癥，并引發胃痛、腹脹或便秘等癥狀。

Your brain
憤怒會損害你的大腦功能

Anger can harm our cognitive functioning, says Joyce Tam, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. It involves the nerve cells in the prefrontal cortex, the front area of our brain that can affect attention, cognitive control and our ability to regulate emotions.
芝加哥拉什大學醫學中心精神病學和行為科學助理教授喬伊斯·塔姆說，憤怒會損害我們的認知功能。它會影響大腦前額葉的神經細胞，前額葉是大腦的前面區域，負責注意力、認知控制和調節情緒的能力。

Anger can trigger the body to release stress hormones into the bloodstream. High levels of stress hormones can damage nerve cells in the brain’s prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus, says Tam.
塔姆博士說，憤怒會促使身體向血液中釋放壓力荷爾蒙。高水平的壓力荷爾蒙會損害大腦前額葉和海馬體的神經細胞。

Damage in the prefrontal cortex can affect decision-making, attention and executive function, she adds.
她補充說，前額葉受損會影響決策能力、注意力和執行功能。

The hippocampus, meanwhile, is the main part of the brain used in memory. So when neurons are damaged, that can disrupt the ability to learn and retain information, says Tam.
海馬體是大腦中主要負責記憶的部分，因此神經元受損會破壞學習和保留信息的能力。

What you can do about it
如何控制憤怒

First, figure out if you’re angry too much or too often. There’s no hard and fast rule. But you may have cause for concern if you’re angry for more days than not, or for large portions of the day, says Antonia Seligowski, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, who studies the brain-heart connection.
首先，要弄清楚你是否經常生氣或生氣的時間太長。沒有嚴格的標準，但研究大腦和心臟之間聯系的馬薩諸塞州總醫院和哈佛醫學院精神病學助理教授安東尼婭·賽麗戈烏斯基博士指出，如果你經常感到憤怒，或者每天有很大一部分時間都在生氣，那就需要注意了。

Getting mad briefly is different than experiencing chronic anger, she says.
賽麗戈烏斯基博士說，偶爾生氣和經常生氣是不同的。

"If you have an angry conversation every now and again or you get upset every now and again, that’s within the normal human experience,” she says. “When a negative emotion is prolonged, when you’re really having a lot more of it and maybe more intensely, that’s where it’s bad for your health.”
她說：“偶爾進行一次激烈的對話，或者偶爾感到不高興，這都是正常的人類經歷。但是，當負面情緒持續很長一段時間，或者憤怒的頻率和強度都明顯增加時，就會對健康產生負面影響?！?/p>

Her group is looking at whether mental-health treatments, like certain types of talk therapy or breathing exercises, may also be able to improve some of the physical problems caused by anger.
賽麗戈烏斯基博士的研究小組正在調查心理健康治療方法（例如某些類型的談話療法或呼吸練習）是否也能改善憤怒引起的某些身體問題。

Other doctors recommend anger-management strategies. Hypnosis, meditation and mindfulness can help, says the Cleveland Clinic’s Lupe. So too can changing the way you respond to anger.
克利夫蘭診所的盧皮博士推薦憤怒管理策略。他認為，催眠、冥想和正念練習可以起到幫助。改變應對憤怒的方式也很重要。

Slow down your reactions. Try to notice how you feel and slow down your response, and then learn to express it. You also want to make sure you’re not suppressing the feeling, as that can backfire and exacerbate the emotion.
盧皮博士建議：“放慢你的反應速度。試著覺察自己的感受，慢一點再做出反應，然后學會表達你的感受。同時，也要確保你沒有壓抑憤怒，因為壓抑會適得其反，加劇憤怒情緒。

Instead of yelling at a family member when you’re angry or slamming something down, say, “I am angry because X, Y and Z, and therefore I don’t feel like eating with you or I need a hug or support,” suggests Lupe.
盧皮博士建議：“當你生氣的時候，不要對家人大喊大叫或者摔東西。你可以說，‘我因為……而生氣，所以現在不想和你一起吃飯，或者我需要一個擁抱或支持。’”

"Slow the process down,” he says.
盧皮博士強調：“放慢這個過程。”

英文來源：《華爾街日報》

編譯：丹妮

審校：齊磊、董靜